Even I can see the problem with this one

So I saw this article at Newsarama, called "Marvel Tees Up." It's about a new line of Marvel-themed t-shirts, aimed at young women. And I thought, "Hey, cool!" Because I've got a teen daughter who has been known to wear superhero t-shirts in the past, when she's been able to find them.

And I go to the link, and at first glance I'm thinking that this is definitely the style of t-shirt she likes--they've got that sort of fake-vintage look to them. The imagery is mostly Silver Age. They're cute, definitely. And I'm hoping that they aren't too pricey because I may end up purchasing some.

Then I look more closely at the actual shirts.

A Captain America shirt: "My boyfriend is a super hero!"
The Human Torch: "My boyfriend is hotter than yours!"
Magneto: "My ex-boyfriend is a villain!"
Reed Richards: "Searching for my Mr. Fantastic!"
A grouping of assorted heroes: "I only date super heroes!"

They're not all like that. A lot are, in fact, just really nice superhero t-shirts.

And exactly one of them features one of Marvel's superheroines. (Two if you count the tank top with an X-Men cover on it, which I don't.) It's Storm, incidentally.

Now, when I said that my daughter has some superhero t-shirts, what I meant is that she's got a couple featuring Wonder Woman and another with the Supergirl logo and some text about Supergirl saving the world. (And it's green, not pink, but I digress.) I don't mean that she'd only ever want superheroine shirts--she'd probably love a shirt featuring her fave hero, although I don't see Deadpool there. But in the past, that's what she's gone for.

I can only conclude that, despite what the article is saying, young women are not really the market for these shirts. Girls who read comics don't read them because they envision the characters as "boyfriends," and girls who don't read comics certainly don't do so. These are shirts for male comic fans to give their girlfriends, or they're shirts for young women to buy to please their comic fan boyfriends. Otherwise, why all the external focus?

As I said, there are a number of shirts there that would please a young woman who is buying them because she, herself, likes comic books (or the iconic imagery), but probably nearly half of these things are boyfriend-themed. For some reason, I found this surprising.